CANALS.
Ninety years ago, two brothers, James and John, found it necessary to
make the long journey from their home in New York City to Kentucky.
They had frequently traveled through the country, and were familiar
with stages and packets. This time they proposed to make their first
trip on the steamboat, since the _Clermont_ was again making its
regular runs. It was advertised to leave New York at one o'clock on
Wednesday. The brothers felt no need of haste in their preparations for
the journey, and it was nearly two o'clock before they came in sight of
the wharf. Just then John made the remark that they were very foolish
to arrive so early.
"We shall have to wait an hour or two," he said; "the boat won't be
ready to start before three o'clock at the earliest."
"I am not so sure," was the reply. "Perhaps the steamboat will not be
as late as the packets."
When they reached the wharf, no steamboat was there. Far up the river
they saw, slowly moving off in the distance, a vessel, which they knew
must be the _Clermont_, from the line of smoke that lay behind it.
Immediately they began to inquire what it meant and were told, "Oh!
that is one of Fulton's notions. He has given strict orders that the
boat shall always leave the wharf exactly on advertised time." This
was a novelty almost as great as the steamboat itself. Sailing vessels
had been dependent upon the wind, and stages upon the conditions of
the roads and the weather; neither made any pretence of running upon
schedule time. Fulton's idea of punctuality was new and caused much
grumbling for a time; but with the coming of the railroads it became an
absolute necessity.
What were the two men to do? But two things could be done. They might
take passage on a packet, or wait for the next trip of the _Clermont_.
They decided to wait, as they were anxious to try the steamboat; they
had had enough experience with the slow sailing vessels, and their poor
accommodations. They did not permit themselves to be late a second
time. In fact, the clocks had hardly struck twelve when they stepped
aboard the _Clermont_.
The hour before the departure of the boat was spent in examining it
from stem to stern. The original _Clermont_ had been greatly improved.
The wheels were now properly protected; a rudder, specially adapted
to the boat and the river, had been constructed. Most noticeable were
the accommodations for the passengers, which were almost elegant when
compared with the poor quarters of the packets. In fact the _Clermont_
had become "a floating palace, gay with ornamental painting, gilding,
and polished woods."
At one o'clock sharp the boat quietly left the wharf. The wind was
blowing freshly down the river and the tide was going out. A packet
started at the same moment from a neighboring pier. The steamboat at
once turned its prow up the stream, but the packet headed for the
Jersey shore, as it could sail against the wind only by making long
tacks. This greatly increased the distance it had to travel, and before
sunset the _Clermont_ had left the packet many miles behind.
The next morning everything was still going smoothly when the two
passengers saw a little way ahead another packet, which had left New
York before the steamboat. This sloop was making tacks like those they
had watched the previous afternoon, and the _Clermont_ was rapidly
gaining on it. Suddenly John exclaimed, "What are they doing? Are they
trying to run us down?" It was evident that the packet was coming
straight for the steamboat; but the captain of the _Clermont_ shut off
steam at once and the packet passed its bow without doing harm.
[Illustration: COLLISION OF THE CLERMONT AND THE SLOOP.]
Soon a sloop was met coming down the river. Again came the exclamation
from John, "They are surely trying to run into us!" He had hardly
spoken when the crash came; the packet struck the wheel box, tore it
open, and then, sliding along the side of the steamboat, passed away
down the river. On inquiry John ascertained that this was merely an
illustration of the envy of the owners of packets, who feared that they
would lose all their business. No serious damage was done, however, and
the steamboat proceeded on its way.
The _Clermont_ arrived at Albany at seven o'clock Thursday evening
and the brothers spent the night at an inn. The next morning, after
an early breakfast, a stage was taken which in a few hours carried
them to Schenectady. This part of the journey was quickly made, as
the road was one of the best in the country. On reaching Schenectady
the travelers learned that they must wait till the next noon to take
a boat up the Mohawk River. The hours slowly dragged along, another
night was spent at an inn, and about three o'clock the next afternoon
the slow trip up the Mohawk began. Two days later they reached Utica,
and another stage took them, the next day, to Rome. From this village
two days' sail carried them across the Oneida Lake, and down the Oswego
River to Oswego on the banks of Lake Ontario.
After a delay of thirty-six hours a lake packet was found ready for
them, which in time arrived at Lewiston at the mouth of the Niagara
River, and so on they went, by land to Buffalo, by water to Erie, by
land again to one of the branches of the Alleghany River, and down this
to Pittsburg. From Pittsburg one of the flat-bottomed Western river
boats, borne along by the current, conveyed them to Louisville, at the
Falls of the Ohio.
Thus was made, in several weeks, a trip from New York to Louisville,
which to-day requires scarcely more than twenty-four hours. Ten times
had changes been made in the conveyances used. A steamboat, river
rowboats, lake packets, Western flatboats and stages, were all needed,
and nights and days even were spent at inns. Slow and cumbrous was
travel in those days and very expensive. There was little traveling for
pleasure, and only the most important business was worth the hardships
and discomforts of such travel.
If it was costly for passengers to travel, it was even more expensive
to carry freight. Enormous charges were placed upon all transportation
of goods. New and better roads were being built in all directions, but
these did little to reduce the cost of transporting goods. The cheapest
routes continued to be by the rivers, as the expense of building good
roads and keeping them in repair added to freight charges. The charges
for freight transportation were so great that it prevented entirely the
moving of many goods.
The people in Pennsylvania desired the salt which was obtained in New
York, but it cost $2.50 a bushel to carry salt three hundred miles.
Citizens of Philadelphia would have purchased flour which was raised
about the sources of the Susquehanna River had it not cost $1.50 a
barrel to carry it to Philadelphia. Hundreds of families were weekly
moving westward into the new country across the Alleghany Mountains;
they could not afford to take their household goods with them. The
freight charges from New York to Buffalo were $120 a ton; from
Philadelphia to Pittsburg, $125.
Something new in the line of transportation was needed; some way by
which freight could be carried at less expense. Private companies were
building new toll roads--but these did not accomplish the purpose.
Different States expended money in improving the highways, and still
the expense of transportation was enormous. The national Government
also took part in the work and constructed a highway from Cumberland,
Maryland, to Wheeling, on the Ohio River--but this was merely a single
road over the mountains, and freight charges were as high as ever.
What could be done? Of course the roads everywhere must be improved and
new ones built--all of which would take many years. But was there not
some way to avoid carrying so much freight in wagons drawn by horses?
Wherever there were rivers these could be used. Was it possible to
make rivers, or at least to make water-ways, upon which boats might be
used? The people of the United States began to talk of canals, and soon
enthusiasm for canal building became universal.
What is a canal? It is a trench cut in the ground, filled with water
deep enough for a well-laden boat, and wide enough for boats to pass
each other. On one bank is a path, called the towpath, upon which
horses or mules travel, pulling a canal boat behind them by means of a
long rope. In most canals it is found necessary to lift the boats over
higher land or up to a higher level. This is done by locks, which are
built where the two levels of the canal come together. These locks are
shut off from each part of the canal by gates. When the lower gates
are shut and the upper gates open, water is let into the lock from
the upper canal until on a level with it. Then a canal boat from the
upper canal enters the lock. The upper gates are closed, the lower
gates opened, and the water runs out of the lock. The boat, remaining
on top of the water, sinks to the lower level and is ready to proceed
on its course. In traveling the other way the process is turned about.
The boat enters the lock and rises with the water which is let in from
above until it is on the upper level.
Canals, with their locks, are simple and easily built. The expense
lies mainly in digging the trench. When the canal is once finished
the cost of running is very slight, and freight can be carried much
more cheaply than over roads, or even by the natural rivers. Canal
travel is very slow, however, as the boat is drawn by a horse at a slow
walk. Therefore a canal is used, for the most part, to carry freight,
especially freight not very perishable. Garden vegetables, fruit, and
meats, for example, are not carried on canals to any great distance; on
the other hand, the length of time used in conveying salt, or flour, or
household goods, is not of so much importance.
Plans for canals sprang up all at once throughout the country. The
Middlesex canal in Massachusetts and the Blackstone canal between
Providence and Worcester were among the first built. The Delaware and
Hudson canal in New York, and the Chesapeake and Delaware in Maryland
were of early importance. In time nearly every Atlantic State had
one or more canals as aids to transportation. Many of them were of
additional importance because they connected neighboring bays, and
could furnish opportunities for water travel, even when the harbors
might be blockaded in time of war.
[Illustration: THE ERIE CANAL.]
The greatest and by far the most important is the Erie canal, which
connects Buffalo on Lake Erie with Albany on the Hudson River. This
canal was due to the energy and persistence of Governor De Witt
Clinton, who dug the first shovelful of earth in 1817, and made the
first trip over the completed canal in 1825. There was great opposition
to building this canal at the expense of the State, and the nickname of
"Clinton's Big Ditch" was frequently applied to it.
Governor Clinton was wiser, however, than his opponents. Every cent
spent on this canal, which is 363 miles long, 40 feet wide, and 4
feet deep, was wisely spent. On the day that it was finished the
great prosperity of New York City began. A large part of the trade
and commerce between the East and the West was carried over the Erie
canal, because it furnished the cheapest route. Freight charges between
Buffalo and Albany fell at once to less than one-quarter their former
rates, and continued to decrease until they became less than $10 a ton.
Thus far had travel and transportation improved. From walking,
horseback riding, and rowboats, slow changes had led to stages,
packets, steamboats, and canals. From the simple Indian trail, like the
Bay Path, had grown up the great highways, like the National Road. From
slow and difficult journeys between neighboring towns, traveling had
become easy from Maine to Florida, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Mississippi River. Was there any chance for further improvement?